Feeder.



R. C. GREENFIELD.

FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. 3|. Isle.

,2l4,7?.. Peeeneed Feb. 6,1917.

Speelde-ation. of Lettera TW., mit.

Patented (il, fllt?.

Application filed anuary 3l., wld. Serial lio,

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, ROY C. Grnnnnrinrn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State oflllisconsin, has invented a certain new and useful lmprovement inFeeders, of which the following is a specification.

T his invention relates to improvements in the construction of feedersand is especially applicable to rotary devices for feeding material intorotating machines, such as tube or ball mills, revolving screens, andth'e'like.

An object of the invention is to provide a feeder which is simple inconstruction and eflicient in operation.

@ne of the more specific objects is to provide a rotary feeder whichwilly automatically feed several kinds of material through a commondischarge opening.

Another object is to provide a feeder which will automatically elevatematerial from at least two diderent elevations and deliver the samethrough a common di"- charge opening. I

A further object is to provide a feeder which may be bodily attacheddirectly to the trunnion of a rotating machine so that the feeder isautomatically actuated by the rotation of the machine.

lt has heretofore been proposed to provide a feeder adapted forattachment to the outer end of the trunnion of a rotating mill,comprising a circular casing of a diameter somewhat larger than that ofthe trunnion, the casing having a feed inlet opening on the side thereofremote from the trunnion and a discharge opening on the side thereofadjacent the trunnion, the material being admitted to the casing throughthe feed inlet openingand discharged from the casing by means of anelevating device adapted to automatically feed the material from theperipheral portion of the casing through the discharge opening during`rotation of the mill. ln these prior devices all of the materialdelivered tothe feeder was admitted through a single opening, so that ifit was desired to feed material from two or more places at differentelevations, it was necessary to elevate all of the material to a commonpoint before delivery to the feeder. ln order to avoid necessity of thuspreliminarily elevating some or all of the material, the presentinvention contemplates the provision of a feeder which willautomatically receive iaterial from different levels and elevate thesame to a common point of discharge.

Figure is a transverse vertical section through a feeder, showing thesame applied to the hollow trunnion of a rotary machine and associatedelements, the section being taken along the line l-ll of Fig. 2 lookingin the direction of the arrows. Fig. 2 is an end view of the feederdisclosed in Fig. l, looking toward the rotary machine. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section through the feeder, the section being takenalong the line llllll of Fig. .i looking in the direction of the arrows.Fig. i is a transverse section through the feeder, the section beingtaken along the line lll-lv of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of thearrows.

The feeder comprises essentially an annular casing 3 having an axialinlet opening i on one side thereof, and having an axial dischargeopening 5 on the opposite side thereof. rfhe side ofthe casing 3 adjacent the discharge opening 5 is provided with a flange ll by means ofwhich the feeder casing 3 is secured to an adjacent flan -e l2 locatedat the outer extremity of the ollow trunnion l. rlhe bolts 13 serve todetachably connect the flanges 11,12. riChe hollow trunnion l ispreferably part of a rotary machine 2 which may be either a tube or ballmill,` a revolving screen, or similar device rotated in the usualmanner. The trunnion l is supportedin a bearing ld in the usual mannerand is provided on its interior with a liner l5 forming a conduit andhaving projecting lugs 16 at the inlet end thereof. rlhe projections i6engage similarly formed recesses in the end of the casing 3, thusforming positive driving connection between these elements. rlhe linerl5 is provided with helical ribs 17 which during rotation of the millserve to automatically feed material admitted to the interior of theliner toward the machine 2.

rlhe interior of the casing 3 is provided with an elevating devicecomprising a spiral scoop 6 which extends from the periphery 8 of thecasing 3 to the discharge opening which in the case 5 thereof. The inletopening 19 of the spiral scoop 6 communicates directly W1th the interiorof the casing 3. A wall 20 formed within the scoop 6 serves to directthe material passing along the spiral scoop 6 toward the dischargeopening 5 and prevents material from falling back into the casing 3 overthe inner end of the scoop. The periphery of the casing 3 is providedwith a second inlet opening 21, which forms a direct communicationbetween the interior of the casing 3 and the interior of the outerspiral scoop 9. The scoop 9 is preferably secured dire'ctly to or formedintegral with the periphery of the casing 3 and together with the scoop6 forms a continuous splral terminating at the dischargel opening 5. Thescoop 9 is adapted to pick up and elevate material delivered into thestationary trough" 10 located at a point considerably below the axis ofthe trunnion l.' The inner scoop 6 receives apartial supply of materialfrom the trough 10 and in addition receives other material from the feedchute 7 through the inlet opening 4.

During the normal operation of the feeder, the machine 2 is 'rotated inthe usual manner causing the trunnion l and feeder casing 3 to rotate ina clockwise direction as viewed in Fig; 2. The coarse material of a ballmill comprises the raw material together with -the new grinding balls,is fed through the feed spout 7 -to the interior of the casing `3through the axial inlet opening 4.- The relatively fine material whichin the casel of ore milling usually vcomprises the oversize .from aclassifier or similar device, is deposited in the trough 10, and chargesthereof are intermittent-ly picked up by the scoop 9 and elevated, beingeventually delivered into the casing 3 through the peripheral inletopenf ing 21. The .combined charges thu/s admitted to the casing 3through the openings al, 21, -are duringl rotation of the feeder pickedup and elevated bythe inner scoop As the scoop (i approaches itsuppermost position, the material resting on the spiral wall thereofgradually cascades downwardly toward the discharge opening The cascadingmaterial is'delivered by gravity through the discharge opening 5 intothe interior `of the hollow trunnion 1.

The material thus admitted to the hollow trunnion 1 .1s automaticallythroughthe trunnion liner 15 and into the machine liner' ribs 17.

It will thus be seen'that the feeder receives material from the trough10 which is considerably below the axis of the trunnion 1 alld from thechute 7 which delivers conveyed delivered 2 by means of the helicalother material into the feeder at a placeV intermediate the trough 10and the axis of the trunnion, and. auomatically elevates and dischargesall of the material received into the liner15. The material received atthe different points maybe of like nature or different. If all of thematerial which it is desired to feed, is at the level of the trough 10,the scoop 9 may alone be utilized to supply the feeder, thereby avoidingnecessity of preliminarily elevating any material with special elevatingdevices not forming part of the feeder. By detachably connecting thefeeder to the outer end of the trunnion 1, access for inspection isreadily permitted and operation of the feeder is effected by theoperation of the mill. w

It should be understood that it is not desired to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occurto a person skilled in the art.

It is claimedand Y ters Patent,f

l. In combination, duit rotatable about: an axis, said conduit havingends one remote from and another adjacent" to said axis, means forfeeding material requiring reduction into said end of said. conduitremote from-said axis, means for delivering material from said end ofsaid conduit adjacent to said axis, and means for feeding other materialinto said conduit at a -point intermediate said ends.

2. A feeder comprising a spiral rotatable about an axis and extendingaround and gradually approaching said axis, the end of said spiral whichis farther from said axis being formed to receive material and the endwhich is nearer said axis being formed to discharge said material, saidfeeder having an opening adjacent said axis and having a passage, saidpassage leading from said opening to said spiral at a point intermediateits ends.

Y3. In combination, means forming a conduit rotatable about 'an axis,said conduit having ends one remote from and another adjacent to saidaxis, means for yfeeding materialy into said end of said conduit remotefrom said axis, means for deliveririg material at one side of saidconduit from said end of said conduit adjacent to said axis, and meansfor feeding other material desired to secure by Letmeans forming a con-4into said conduit from the opposite sideopenings adjacent its axis andwith an opening through a portion thereof remote from said axis, meansfor feeding material into said casing through one of said axialopenings, an outer spiral scoop for feeding other material into saidcasing through said opening remote from said axis, and an inner spiralscoop for delivering the material from said casing through another ofsaid axial openings.

6. In combinatlon, an annular casing ro-l tatable about its axis ofannularity, said casing being formed with opposite axial openings, andwith a` peripheral opening, means for feeding material into said casingthrough one of said axial openings, an outer spiral scoop for feedingother material into said casing through said -peripheral opening, and aninner spiral scoop for delivering the material from said casingthroughthe other of said axial openings.

7. A feeder comprising conducting means discharge said material, saidconducting means having an opening concentric with said axis to receiveother material intermediate its ends.

8. A feeder comprising a casing having openings on its opposite sidesand in its peripheral Wall, and an outer spiral scoop connected Withsaid casing between its sides and leading into said peripheral opening,said l also having an inner spiral scoop from one of its side openingsand casing leading of said side openings.

In testimony whereof, the signature of the inventor is aflixed hereto.

ROY C. GREENFIELD.

farther from said axis being -from said peripheral opening to the otheri

